Description
This indicator displays a grid pattern on the chart. The dotted horizontal lines represent the big figures in the currency (whole numbers – like 1.3800). The dotted vertical lines represent the beginning and end of a specific trading day (24 hour period). The solid vertical lines represent the beginning of the week; each trading week is divided into a 5 day period.
The Dotted Horizontal Lines
Each dotted horizontal line signifies an important figure in the market. For example, on the 1 hour chart above, each dotted line represents 50 pips. However, if you switch to the Daily chart then you will see that the dotted lines now represent 100 pips. Each timeframe has a different setting. Play around with the charts and settings to see what works best for you. You can access the settings by right-clicking on the chart and selecting “Indicator List”. Then select “Traders4Traders_Grid” and click “Edit”. Click on the Inputs tab. See the screenshot below. You can change the setting of a timeframe by double-clicking in the “value” section.
The Solid Vertical Lines
Each solid vertical line represents one week or 5 days of price action in the open Forex market. This line only appears on the 1 hour chart and lower; the solid line does not appear on the 4hr, Daily, Weekly, or Monthly chart. The goal behind displaying the weekly divider is so you can easily determine the day of the week by simply looking at the chart. It also helps you gauge the Average Weekly Range (AWR); you can visually determine or measure the amount of pips a pair has moved within the current week and then compare it to the AWR.
The Dotted Vertical Lines
One of the nagging issues with MT4 is that the broker time cannot be changed; you are simply at the mercy of whatever setting the broker decides to start the trading day. Therefore, when you enable the default period separators in MT4, they start from where your broker time begins.
To overcome this problem, we’ve developed the Traders4Traders_Grid indicator so you can set the period separator to your choosing. Each dotted vertical line represents a 24 hour trading session period. You can change the starting point of each vertical line based on your own settings.
At T4T, we prefer to have the period separator at GMT time +2. This gives us the start of the new trading day in New Zealand, after the New York rollover period. To calculate this, it’s important know your broker time. On your keyboard, press Ctrl+M to bring up the Market Watch window. Your broker time appears at the top of the window. Now compare your broker time to GMT time. Perform a quick Google search of “GMT time”. What is the difference? For example, the image above displays a broker time of 05:23. After performing a quick Google search, GMT time is 02:23. If I subtract 02:23 from 05:23, the difference is +03:00. Therefore, my MT4 broker time is +3:00 compared to GMT time. Write this down. As mentioned, we prefer to have our period separator start at GMT +2. In order for us to achieve this time setting, we need to subtract 1 from +03:00. This can be accomplished by changing the value in “Hour Offset”.
Let’s run through the steps above once more:
1.Find your MT4 broker time.
2.Find the current GMT time.
3.Make the calculation: (your MT4 broker time) – (current GMT time) = (your MT4 offset from GMT)From the example above: (05:23) – (02:23) = (+03:00)
4.We want our MT4 GMT offset to equal (+2:00).
5.The “HourOffset” value of (-1) will give us (+2:00).
6.Thus enter (-1) in the HourOffset value and click “OK”.
If the proper horizontal lines aren’t displayed immediately, click on another timeframe and then return to your original timeframe of interest. The lines should now appear in the correct order.
Once the price action is divided into period separators, it is much easier to visually gauge how much a currency pair has moved for that day. Now you can compare this price movement to the ADR to gauge if a possible trade opportunity may exist. It is important to note that these horizontal and vertical lines represent a guide to price action; they are not specific buy and sell signals.
